Ridesharing is now the norm for business travelers. Skift partnered with Lyft to field a study investigating the ridesharing habits of several hundred U.S.-based business travelers. The results suggest an overwhelming, and surprisingly rapid, surge in adoption.

Salaries for travel buyers were relatively flat this year, although less experienced buyers saw a nice uptick in their annual bonuses.

It should come as no surprise that the government isn't following its own rules when it comes to securing the traveler data it seizes from personal devices. Another reminder to take precautions, even if your chance of getting searched is rather low.

Conventional wisdom says a good travel agent can arrange leisure travel or corporate travel, but not both. Even if it were true, there's nothing to prevent the agency from selling both leisure and business travel — except believing conventional wisdom.

It may seem early to be worrying about the October 2020 deadline for so-called Real IDs for U.S. domestic travel, including U.S. territories, but planning ahead could reduce headaches at the airport or motor vehicle agencies.

The Skift Megatrends package is the largest annual effort from the Skift global editorial team. Our series of Megatrends Forecast and Magazine Launches have been so successful in the past six years that in 2019 we're hosting events in even more cities globally. RSVP today to claim your spot!

The long-predicted buyout of public company Travelport has happened at a premium of about twice the market capitalization of the company. Expect a spinout of the company's eNett payments division and the proverbial "cost restructuring."

The early consensus is that Elliott Management put together a disappointing deal for investors. We cover the case for and against the deal here. But expect larger Travelport investors to consider resisting the deal or hope that a white knight acquirer rides in with a better offer.

This year Lufthansa made a series of small moves that, when looked at together, reveal a doubling down on its multi-front strategy to pressure Amadeus, Travelport, and especially Sabre to conform more to its preferred airline distribution practices. Connect the dots, and it looks like a low-grade war.

As a Dataminr executive told us, "There is no such thing as a secret now." If it happens on an airplane and someone puts it on social media, it is bound to become news. That's just how it goes now, for better or worse.

Anne Rigail has the key task of trying to get the unions onside in order to avert further strike action. If she succeeds, the future looks good for Air France.

Competition is heating up for supersonic travel and Aerion has established an interesting team to speed up high-end business travel. If it works, the glamour of high-speed crossings will finally return, and the world will open up a bit more.